Krawks are Pets Too
by Alkuna
Summary: A somewhat naieve Tyrannian Krawk transformed from a Blue Uni meets a trio of bullies and finds some uncomfortable side effects that come with her new form. Please R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own Neopets . com :p

Author's note: Any names with a hyphen ( - ) in it represents names with the underscore. Unfortunately the formatting of fanfiction . net doesn't support them. Thank you.

Krawks Are Pets Too

Warm amber eyes swept over the bustling crowd in Neopia Central's Bazaar. Her name was Mai-Rose, and though she had once been a common Blue Uni, she was now a rare Tyrannian Krawk. Casually she made her way between the many shops; pausing here to take a deep whiff of Pizzaroo's Parlor and the aroma of bubbling cheese and sausage, pausing there to watch a young Neopet scamper out of a shop clutching a new Usuki doll and chattering cheerfully to her owner. There was a lot to observe and investigate here, and being a newcomer, Mai couldn't help but drink in the sights.

"Oy! Krawk! Watch where you're going!"

Mai froze, a brief thought of alarm snapping into her dreamy thoughts. Had she hit someone with her new, powerful Krawk tail? She was still getting the hang of her new body shape and it had been a quick discovery that she could easily cause as much damage as a rampaging Kau in Osiri's Pottery Shop (no offense meant to Kaus). She looked around quickly and saw a tall Buzz glaring at her from a mere two steps away.

"I beg your pardon," Mai said apologetically, "I didn't mean to hit you... if I did I mean."

"You didn't hit me," the Buzz snapped, still glaring.

Mai blinked, "Oh. Did I trip you?" She glanced down at her long legs and clawed feet, which could cause some rather nasty scratches.

"No you didn't trip me," the Buzz snapped impatiently, taking a step forward with an unpleasant gleam in his eyes.

"Then..."

"You're in my way!" he bellowed, shoving his face into hers, "Now MOVE IT!"

With that he gave her a hard shove and Mai, already a little off balance while on two feet instead of four, tumbled nose over sail until she crashed into Hubert's Hot Dog cart, several feet away.

The Buzz guffawed loudly as hot dog condiments flew into the air and landed with a splat all over her.

"That'll teach you snot nosed, spoiled Krawks not to stick your fat snouts around us REAL pets!" Still laughing harshly, the Buzz strode off.

"What a creep. Here miss," A friendly voice said near Mai's ear and she turned to see Hubert smiling kindly at her, a paw held out to help her up.

Mai dipped her head guiltily, "I'm so sorry... I probably wrecked your cart and your hotdogs."

"S'not your fault, honey, I saw the whole thing and you didn't do a single thing wrong." Hubert patted Mai's shoulder kindly and helped her to her feet, wiping a bit of mustard from the end of her snout with a napkin.

In return, Mai helped Hubert set his cart upright and inspect it for damage. There was a small dent where Mai had hit it, but otherwise it seemed unharmed. Luckily, the hotdogs had been inside the cart and under a closed lid, and were fine other than being a bit jumbled up inside. Hubert picked up the condiments and shook his head before tossing the empty containers into a trash bin.

"I'll just go get some more, don't you worry Missy," he assured her, "You, on the other hand, might want to go home and bathe before that relish gets nasty in the sun." he pointed to some green gunk spattered over Mai's sail.

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Mai sighed as she dried off after her shower. What had been that Buzz's problem anyway? And what had he meant by... 'Real pet'? Krawks were normal Neopets weren't they? A little rare yes but...

Mai shook it off and went outside again. Despite the rough morning, Mai was determined to continue her explorations of the Neopian Bazaar. More marvels to see and hear and smell. The Chocolate factory's heavenly smell of warm, rich chocolate. The furniture shop with its fascinating displays of every kind of furniture you could possibly want.

There was a brief problem here when Mai's tail hit a chair and knocked it over. This would have been a no-harm-done situation, since it was well crafted, except that Mai happened to knock it over onto the same Buzz that had shoved her before.

The result was a lot of shouting and pirate phrases on the Buzz's part, with a few overdramatic howls of pain. Mai staggered back, trying to distance herself from the angry Buzz, but she tripped over something in her way and fell backward over a table. Before she knew what was happening, a lamp crashed down on her head, sending exploding stars through Mai's vision. Mai could only clutch her head and moan.

"You're such a klutz!" the Buzz was yelling as he pulled himself to his feet, "What is the world coming to these days? Petpets parading around like real Neopets, then being too clumsy to even exist with the rest of us without destroying everything in their path!"

"C'mon," said a strange voice, "Let's go before they link us to her little... accident..."

That was on purpose?! Mai blinked hazily and caught a blurred glimpse of a Halloween Zafara and a hulking Purple Grarrl slinking around the corner with the Buzz, just in time to escape being seen by a Chia Security Officer and the Eyrie Shopkeeper.

The Chia Security guard tapped his foot impatiently and glared down at Mai, who slowly got to her feet, still rubbing a bump on her head.

The Eyrie shook his head and inspected the furniture with a sigh. The chair seemed to be all right, but the lamp had broken its bulb and the shade was mangled; it was unfit for selling.

Mai bit her lip; it seemed she was always apologizing for the messes she was getting into. Just as she was going to open her mouth and offer to pay for the lamp she damaged, the Chia Security guard barked, "Well? C'mon girl give it up. We heard the shouting, and unless you were having an argument with yourself, I want to know who was involved in this... mess."

Slowly Mai relayed all that had happened with the Buzz and the other two pets, and how she suspected she had been framed.

"Hmph, a likely story," the Chia growled, "I think we need to have a talk with your owner about-"

"Hold on," the Eyrie interrupted, "This Buzz, was he tall for a Buzz? A Tall Buzz with green wings and yellow eyes?"

Mai thought for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah I think so."

The Eyrie sighed, "She's okay Clyde, she didn't do anything wrong. That's the Buzz I made a report on last time for shoving an innocent Blue Krawk into my display of Robo Acaras."

"What's he got against Krawks anyway? He said... he said that... well... that I wasn't a real pet. Surely I am a real Neopet right? I mean, you can get us at the Create-a-Pet Center, can't you? How could I be a fake?" Mai tapped her sail, "This is attached to me. It's not taped or anything." Mai asked, growing even more confused at the growing expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"Where you been, under a rock?" demanded the Chia Security officer.

"Um, no, mostly in the Pound. I haven't read much and I'm still getting used to this body after the morphing potion I used." Mai scratched her head.

The Eyrie put the broken lamp on the counter to send back for repairs, "Oh I see. The truth is, most Krawks start out as a petpet. A tiny little petpet that's very hard to come by. Most owners have to spend hundreds of thousands of Neopoints to get just one, and even then, you gotta travel all the way to Krawk Island and feed it some sort of moss or fungus or something to make it turn into a full sized Krawk. That's what he meant by you not being a real pet."

"I... see..."

"Your best bet is to try to avoid that Buzz, girl. He's bad news and he'll go so far as to follow you to get you in trouble," the Chia Officer rumbled, waving a pencil and notepad for emphasis.

Mai chewed on that thought for a long time, wandering here and there and generally being careful not to bump into anyone else. By the time the sun was beginning to set, Mai had wandered among a number of Neopian Owned shops.

She liked these places as much as the Bazaar, wandering in and out of shops with themes, shops carefully decorated, shops pleasant but more functional than decorative. She chatted with Shopkeepers on how they managed the huge emporium sized shops. She offered a few ideas to the shopkeepers of shops barely hanging on.

Occasionally she bought a small snack to keep from getting too hungry. Although her siblings couldn't understand Mai's fascination with Neopian life in general and the way the world worked, they did seem to come to Mai for practical and worldly advice. And she had quite the fascination with the hierarchy of the Neopian culture.

"Can you believe it?" a Faerie Ixi snorted delicately to a Starry Cybunny, across the street from where Mai was leaning against a store front, "How can you attract customers with such an... an... ordinary shop!" The Ixi pointed a hoof blatantly at a red brick and glass storefront that Mai had thought of as charming. "'The Stuff Stop.' How unoriginal. You can bet there's nothing in there worth even raising an eyebrow to. Unprofessional and boring...." The Ixi's voice faded into the distance.

Mai raised her own eyebrow after them, polished off her smoothie and wandered into the said shop. Bells jingled merrily over a hand carved door as she walked in and Mai was immediately engulfed in a warm, welcoming glow.

"Ahh, hello again Missy," the Wocky shopkeeper greeted Mai as he bustled out of the back room with an armload of miscellaneous items, "Did you like your smoothie?"

"I loved it, thank you," Mai replied, scooping up an errant Scratchcard and handing it back to him, "It was just right."

Mai looked around. The shop was small, but had a kind of old fashioned elegance to it. All the items were displayed in an even glow from lamps placed around the room, and the display cases were very clean and simple.

"Nothing in here my tail," Mai muttered, feeling herself relax a bit in the comfortable atmosphere.

BANG! JANGLE!

Mai nearly jumped out of her scaly skin as the Red Buzz stormed into the store. Oh for the love of Fyora! Why couldn't he just leave her alone?!

But this time the Buzz and his companions didn't even spare Mai a glance, instead storming right up to the Wocky, who was already bracing himself for the assault.

"This Kabuggle Mocha tastes funny," the Buzz growled at the shopkeeper.

"I'm sorry sir would you like to make you another one?" The shopkeeper was already bracing for the trouble he knew was to come.

"I want whipped cream on my Mocha," the Buzz snarled, "You didn't put any whipped cream on it when you made it."

"Sir, we're out of whipped cream. We won't have any more until a shipment comes in next week."

"This is an awful shady operation to be making promises and then not filling them. The recipe says that the mocha comes with whipped cream. What, did you think I wouldn't notice you leaving an ingredient out of my drink?" The Buzz was building himself to a full scale Customer Tantrum, "You know what? I don't want to see the manager... I think I'm just going to report this shop to the Abuse Division, telling them that you are cheating people when you sell items..." the Buzz stormed over to a red button in a small Transparishield box marked "Abuse Reports"

Alarm flared in the poor Wocky's eyes. Although he really had done nothing wrong, just the thought of being reported terrified him. If the Chia Police did an investigation on his shop for possible thievery, his clients would leave and never come back, thinking him dishonest.

What happened next frightened Mai as much as it did the Red Buzz. Once a very passive and warm-hearted Uni, her new Krawk form revealed to Mai that it had a savage temper.

With a snarl reminiscent of a full-blooded Grarrl, Mai lunged forward and seized the Buzz by the back of his leather jacket before he even knew he was in trouble. Because Mai had used a morphing potion, she was still as large as she had been as a Uni. So as a Krawk, Mai towered over the Buzz by a full ninety centimeters. This fact was made very clear as Mai lifted the Buzz bodily off the floor and dangled him in front of her very toothy jaws.

"Touch that button and the Healing Springs will never, EVER heal you back to full health!" she snarled into the alarmed Buzz's face, "Don't... even... think... about... it." She spat out, as the Buzz's companions lunged to help their ringleader. They skidded to a collective stop. "You..." she growled, turning back to her alarmed captive, "I've had enough of you. You bullied me when I had never even SEEN you before. You followed me and tried to get me in trouble with the Furniture shopkeeper, and now you're bullying a shopkeeper who just wasn't perfect enough for your snotty preferences."

The Buzz trembled in Mai's claws, finally taking in the fact that a Tyrannian Krawk had a lot of sharp claws; sharper and bigger than any normal Krawk in fact.

Mai stormed to the door of the shop and threw the Buzz outside, making sure to aim for a giant mud puddle. His companions quickly followed, scrambling out the door with yelps to avoid getting booted in the rear as they went. Then the door slammed behind them.

"Urrrgh," Mai growled, putting her paws over her eyes as though trying to fend off a headache. Soon she was trembling hard, both in anger and in fear of how aggressive she had been.

"Here," the Wocky shopkeeper offered softly, guiding Mai over to a comfy sofa and pressing a cup of hot chocolate into her claws, "Drink it up. Chocolate is my Mum's own cure for a bad or unhappy mood. I'll call up your owner."

Mai took a deep pull of the hot chocolate while the shopkeeper typed up an electronic Neomail and sent it to Mai's owner.

"Dear Alkuna-rescue,

I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, but your pet Mai-Rose is in my shop and suffering from a rather bad day with a Buzz and some bullies. Would you come pick her up? I'm sure she could use a hug from you right now."

There was a faint beep as he pressed the Send button. It took a total of thirty seconds before there was a loud hum and a crackle of energy outside the store. Shrill yelps and howls erupted outside and Mai caught a glimpse of the Grarrl flying past the store window, looking as though a Zafara had given him a double kick with his hind feet. The reason for this became clear when a dark and sinister looking Darigan Zafara charged into the store, a sneer on his face.

"That was quick," the shopkeeper said mildly, "Are you, erm, Mai's Owner?"

"Of course not," the Zafara snapped, "I'm Mai's older brother Magmafyre. A-R went offline for the evening twenty minutes ago. I saw the Neomail and used the Y.S.B. device to get me here the fastest." He was by Mai's side in a single bound, his powerful legs clearing a display without even grazing it with his feet, "Yo sis, you a'ight?"

Mai gave him a weak smile. For all his abrasive qualities, Magma was the kind of brother you could count on for gruff comfort, "I will be. Thanks for coming."

"Feh, whatever. Come on you. Everybody else is in bed already, and Mom said I couldn't go to bed at all until you got your prissy Krawk butt in bed where you belong." Despite his cutting words, Magma's paws were gentle and steady as they helped Mai to her feet.

Mai smiled. Alkuna-rescue would have said no such thing. It was more like Magma couldn't get any sleep until he knew his sister was home and safe.

They made it home using the Y.S.B. and into Mai's bedroom before Mai began to shake again and Magma had to catch his sister and ease her into bed. Tears trickled down Mai's face.

"Oi! No crying dag nabbit!" Magma hissed uncomfortably, shoving a box of Neopkins into Mai's paws, "C'mon sis, don't do this to me! I am so terrible at that hugging and crying junk!" But still, he sat on Mai's bed next to her and let her lean against his shoulder, "C'mon, those stupid losers ain't worth crying about!"

"It's not that..." Mai hiccupped, "It's just... I was not myself. I threw them out of the store Magma! I got... got... aggressive!"

Understanding flooded her brother's face and he slid a paw under her chin and made her look up at him, "Aww sis, you're still trying to get used to the changes aren't you? Yeah, I thought so... Not only are ya' stressed over having to get used to that body but you got picked on to boot."

Mai nodded, "I shouldn't have gone out so early... but I just couldn't help wanting to experience Neopia Central as a Krawk!"

"Now you look here lil' ex-Uni," Magma said, tapping Mai's nose gently, "No matter how angry you get with somebody, you're always still the soft hearted Sis I know. Those thugs deserved to be tossed out. They deserved a lot more too, and I woulda' given it to them too, if I wanted to waste time that was better spent checking up on you."

Mai smiled crookedly.

"There, see, that's my sis right there," Magma said proudly, "Don't care whether she's scaly or furry, s'long as she's got those soft eyes and that smile. Now c'mon you, bedtime already."

Once Mai was tucked in, Magma gave Mai's cheek a gentle pat and turned off the light. As she drifted off to sleep, Mai realized that though the light was out, Magma hadn't left the room yet; opting to stay by her bedside until she fell asleep.

Mai smiled and drifted off, murmuring; "Love you, big brother."

Without missing a beat or even pausing, Magma mumbled, "Love you too lil' sister."

And Mai fell into a blissful sleep.

The End

(Y.S.B. is short for Yellow Search Bar) ;)


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